which UY would b best for us?

[mndl]

I just learned about DVC from a friend a couple of months ago and have convinced DH that it is perfect for us. There are 6 of us and we like to stay in delux resorts. (Though as DD is only 8 mos, we will be crammed in 1 BC room in Nov, oh how I wish we knew of DVC sooner!) We haven't quite decided where we wannt to buy, but probably BCV.
My question is what do you think would be a good UY for us,if we have a choice. As we live in Jersey we will primarily be going in Nov(Jersey Week:clappingh). Other times might be late Aug or early Sept. I don't really see this changing until DD graduates, long time away! Any thoughts? Btw I just :lov love MO :lovestruc

[JimP]

I just learned about DVC from a friend a couple of months ago and have convinced DH that it is perfect for us. There are 6 of us and we like to stay in delux resorts. (Though as DD is only 8 mos, we will be crammed in 1 BC room in Nov, oh how I wish we knew of DVC sooner!) We haven't quite decided where we wannt to buy, but probably BCV.
My question is what do you think would be a good UY for us,if we have a choice. As we live in Jersey we will primarily be going in Nov(Jersey Week:clappingh). Other times might be late Aug or early Sept. I don't really see this changing until DD graduates, long time away! Any thoughts? Btw I just :lov love MO :lovestruc

What will be your 2nd most likely time to go?

If summer... then Apr/June (with preference for June)
If winter... then Sept/Oct (with preference for Oct)

There are no use years in May or November... which is why I did not list them in the two recommendations repectively.

/Jim

[handa]

I didn't know that you could necessarily pick a UY and thought that you only had the options that were available at the time of purchase. Reservations are made based upon home resort and not UY, so this only impacts point expiration in a particular year.

Our UY for SSR is October, and we haven't had any difficulty w/ point management on any of our previous trips. The only impact UY had upon any of our decisions had to do with the use of developer's points.

Chris

[JimP]

I didn't know that you could necessarily pick a UY and thought that you only had the options that were available at the time of purchase. Reservations are made based upon home resort and not UY, so this only impacts point expiration in a particular year.

Our UY for SSR is October, and we haven't had any difficulty w/ point management on any of our previous trips. The only impact UY had upon any of our decisions had to do with the use of developer's points.

Chris

Chris,

Since the OP is buying resale (BCV)... then you can certainly pick your use year. If buying from Disney... I think they often have some flexibility in use year. If you add-on from Disney... it will be the same as your current use year.

I think it makes sense to pick a good use year... but you should also realize that your plans may change over the life of your contract... and what might be a good use year now, may be less than ideal later on.

We optimized for summer (March UY) because we generally go when the kids are out of school... and we like 2 week trips. It is hard other times of years other than the summer.

/Jim

[JimP]

I wish that DVC would eliminate the banking window restrictions... that would equate to UY's becoming nearly 100% irrelevent... and would benefit DVC members.

/Jim

[greenban]

I just learned about DVC from a friend a couple of months ago and have convinced DH that it is perfect for us. There are 6 of us and we like to stay in delux resorts. (Though as DD is only 8 mos, we will be crammed in 1 BC room in Nov, oh how I wish we knew of DVC sooner!) We haven't quite decided where we wannt to buy, but probably BCV.
My question is what do you think would be a good UY for us,if we have a choice. As we live in Jersey we will primarily be going in Nov(Jersey Week:clappingh). Other times might be late Aug or early Sept. I don't really see this changing until DD graduates, long time away! Any thoughts? Btw I just :lov love MO :lovestruc


Hi and welcome to MOs!

Are you buying resale or direct from DVC?

There are 8 UYs available: Februrary, March, April, June, August, September, October and December.

While it is certain your vacation preferences *WILL* change at least once during the course of your ownership, given your dates based on DD, I would suggest an August UY as perfect for all of your likely dates.

Unlike others, I find UY quite important, especially since the DVC arbitraily changed banking deadlines last year. UY is vital if you may cancel reservations, so that you can bank, or re-book without loosing points.

Hope to Welcome You Home Soon, neighboor!

-Tony

[JimP]

Unlike others, I find UY quite important, especially since the DVC arbitraily changed banking deadlines last year. UY is vital if you may cancel reservations, so that you can bank, or re-book without loosing points.

Good advice :iagree:

/Jim

[handa]

Thanks for reminding me about banking and borrowing. UY does become very important if you don't want to lose points!

Chris

[2nd Star]

While it is certain your vacation preferences *WILL* change at least once during the course of your ownership, given your dates based on DD, I would suggest an August UY as perfect for all of your likely dates.

:iagree: Our UY is August and :welcome:

[mgilmer]

My wife has said go for it after several trips to DVC resorts on rented points, so we are looking at enough points to stay in a 1 br in low season. We would probably be going every other year for two weeks the first two weeks of December, so according to the points charts, we would need approximately 115 points. Can we get that small a points allocation from Disney or would we have to go resale? I do not see the need to have to buy the 160 point level as it would be more than what we need. We want either BWV or BCV (in that order). Also, since our vacations will almost be locked in for December each year, what UY would be best for us?

[mountainjourno]

We want either BWV or BCV (in that order). Also, since our vacations will almost be locked in for December each year, what UY would be best for us?

The best use-year for you would be a December one, if you travel December each year (and that way if you cancel more than 31 days before your trip, you can bank them to the next year or have 11 months to travel).

If you're after BWV or BCV and want less than 160 points, then you'll need to go with a resale as you won't have a hope of getting the points through Disney.

Good luck with your decision! :)

[mikayla73]

From what I have read, you can't buy less than the minimum from Disney unless you are already an owner then you have to buy at least 25, 50 if you want to finance.

So if you are looking to buy less than the 160 for your first purchase, you'd have to go resale.

[mgilmer]

The best use-year for you would be a December one, if you travel December each year (and that way if you cancel more than 31 days before your trip, you can bank them to the next year or have 11 months to travel).

If you're after BWV or BCV and want less than 160 points, then you'll need to go with a resale as you won't have a hope of getting the points through Disney.

Good luck with your decision! :)

I thought the new banking rules extended the deadline out to 3-4 months? If that is the case, would not a March use year be better?

[suecait]

I'll go ahead & confuse this thread even more. I thought DVC reduced the min. amount of points to pruchase from 160 to 100. Or does this not apply to older resorts?

[JimP]

I thought the new banking rules extended the deadline out to 3-4 months? If that is the case, would not a March use year be better?

March would be one of the worst UYs for someone traveling primarily in December. March UY points must be banked by 10/31.

In order of priority, the best UYs are:

December, October, September, August, June

If you think you will also want to travel other times of the year... the order can change siginificantly.

/Jim

[mgilmer]

March would be one of the worst UYs for someone traveling primarily in December. March UY points must be banked by 10/31.


Ok, I guess I am confused. I thought that a banking date close to my vacation date would be better so that if we had to cancel our vacation (say in November) we could still bank the points and not lose them. Am I looking at this wrong? :huh:

[Grandbuddy]

Because your use year is impacted by "backing up" four months for your final banking date. If you have a March use year, and you find in early November that you cannot make your trip planned for December 1-15, you must either use your points (which will likely be holding points, at that juncture) by the end of February, or lose them.

Caveat:
You say you will primarily travel the first 2 weeks of December, which is an EXTREMELY popular time for DVC travel. You will need to plan to reserve at your home resort at the 11 month window. AND, if your trips will likely begin, say the Saturday or Sunday after Thanksgiving, be aware that these dates will most often fall in November. In that case, YOU DO NOT WANT a December use year. Go for October. (I know. I have a December use year, and I probably will be using points just after Thanksgiving, every other year. I have no hope of recovering those points, should we be forced to change our plans.)

[mgilmer]

Yeah, I am going for an October use year. The 11 month booking is not a problem because we always plan our annual vacations 12 months in advance. We called today and and are waitlisted for the BCVs with DVC. I have also contacted several resellers about a small (less than 50) point contract with October UY at the BWV. I went with DVC for the BCV because the price difference on the resale market was not much and I can get all our points quicker with no rofr issues.

[JimP]

Yeah, I am going for an October use year. The 11 month booking is not a problem because we always plan our annual vacations 12 months in advance. We called today and and are waitlisted for the BCVs with DVC. I have also contacted several resellers about a small (less than 50) point contract with October UY at the BWV. I went with DVC for the BCV because the price difference on the resale market was not much and I can get all our points quicker with no rofr issues.

Just to make 100% sure that you are not confused. The UY has absolutely zero affect on when you can book your reservations. This is possibly the item that confuses more DVC owners than any other.

By contrast... the UY does have a significant affect if you ever have to cancel a reservation.

/Jim

[JimP]

Ok, I guess I am confused. I thought that a banking date close to my vacation date would be better so that if we had to cancel our vacation (say in November) we could still bank the points and not lose them. Am I looking at this wrong? :huh:

Yes... if you had a March UY... your banking deadline would be October 31st. If you needed to cancel a reservation in November... you would already be past your October banking window, so you would be obligated to use those points prior to Feb 29th... or would lose them.

March is a great use year for spring, summer, and early fall reservations. I think it is one of the better ones for people with school age children, or for teachers. It is sub-optimal for winter vacations.

/Jim

[mgilmer]

Just to make 100% sure that you are not confused. The UY has absolutely zero affect on when you can book your reservations. This is possibly the item that confuses more DVC owners than any other.

By contrast... the UY does have a significant affect if you ever have to cancel a reservation.

/Jim

Yes. I understand. I wanted October UY in the event we had to cancel a vacation, I would be able to bank my points with plenty of time to spare.

[DVC-To-Be]

I am really confused about the UY aspect of buying DVC. I think I understand the basics of the rest of it, but I cannot get my head around what UY is going to be best for us at all. Our first choice of holiday dates will be October, followed by late August and early December, and then early Spring through to Easter. We are unlikely to travel in early summer through beginning of August.

Am I right in thinking that we would be best with an October UY so that we had until June to bank our points, and the period which falls outside the banking window would be the time of year we were less likely to vacation? Or would March be better?

Help please, I cannot get my head round this at all! :idontgeti

[JimP]

I am really confused about the UY aspect of buying DVC. I think I understand the basics of the rest of it, but I cannot get my head around what UY is going to be best for us at all. Our first choice of holiday dates will be October, followed by late August and early December, and then early Spring through to Easter. We are unlikely to travel in early summer through beginning of August.

Am I right in thinking that we would be best with an October UY so that we had until June to bank our points, and the period which falls outside the banking window would be the time of year we were less likely to vacation? Or would March be better?

Help please, I cannot get my head round this at all! :idontgeti

I think that your ideal UY would be August. With Aug, your banking deadline would be March 31st. Any cancelled reservations between August and March 31st would result in being able to bank the points. Furthermore.. since all reservations must be cancelled at least 31 days in advance... this actually covers your April reservations as well.

/Jim

[salmoneous]

March would be one of the worst UYs for someone traveling primarily in December. March UY points must be banked by 10/31.

In order of priority, the best UYs are:

December, October, September, August, June I suspect people over-think the importance of banking rules when evaluating use-years. *From a banking standpoint* there is no difference between those use-years for a December trip.

The real issue is holding points. If you have to cancel within 30 days of your trip, your points become holding points and have to be used by the end of your use year. October is better than August because you have 9 months to use those holding points with an October use year vs 7 months with an August year. That's just not something I would worry about. Now if you always travel in December, and worry you'll have to cancel a lot - it might be a bit of an issue. But as soon as you start throwing trips in other months into the mix... that "superior" October use year becomes a headache if you book an August trip and have to cancel at the last minute.

That's the one scenario I would worry about. If you plan to go frequently in one month, it worth making a bit of effort to avoid a use-year in the following month or two. I have a trip in August and a September use year. If I have to cancel at this point, I'm going to really have to scramble to use those points.

[salmoneous]

I am really confused about the UY aspect of buying DVC. I think I understand the basics of the rest of it, but I cannot get my head around what UY is going to be best for us at all. Our first choice of holiday dates will be October, followed by late August and early December, and then early Spring through to Easter. We are unlikely to travel in early summer through beginning of August. Given that you plan to travel throughout the year, I wouldn't worry about use year at all. Find the best contract you can and take whatever use year you get.

Note that use-year can play a big role in determining the "best contract" for reasons that have nothing to do with cancellation rules. Often, Disney will give current-year points when you buy a contract. So if you buy an August use-year contract from Disney in September 2008, you'll get your August 2008 use-year points. But if you by an October use year contract, you'll get October 2007 use-year points when you buy, and October 2008 use-year points a month later. It doesn't always work this simply (things get confusing when developer points are throw in for example) but always ask your guide exactly what points you will get if there is a choice of use-year. It can make a big difference.

[JimP]

I suspect people over-think the importance of banking rules when evaluating use-years. *From a banking standpoint* there is no difference between those use-years for a December trip.

The real issue is holding points. If you have to cancel within 30 days of your trip, your points become holding points and have to be used by the end of your use year. October is better than August because you have 9 months to use those holding points with an October use year vs 7 months with an August year. That's just not something I would worry about. Now if you always travel in December, and worry you'll have to cancel a lot - it might be a bit of an issue. But as soon as you start throwing trips in other months into the mix... that "superior" October use year becomes a headache if you book an August trip and have to cancel at the last minute.

That's the one scenario I would worry about. If you plan to go frequently in one month, it worth making a bit of effort to avoid a use-year in the following month or two. I have a trip in August and a September use year. If I have to cancel at this point, I'm going to really have to scramble to use those points.

I do not think it is "over thinking". I also agree it is not the single most important criteria nor is it likely to stay constant over the life of your contract as your personal work, children in school, grandkids, etc situation all change. Still... giving some thought about use year is good advice.

Personally, I optimized for summer shool vacations because we have kids (all in college now... but that doesn't change things much) and will probably have grandkids someday. It is a lousy use year for our upcoming Christmas/NYE trip... but those are much more rare for us... at least at this stage of our lives.

/Jim